Invoicing Workflow

The following is an illustration of the invoicing workflow which specifies how an invoice is handled, from the point of its creation to the point at which the invoice is closed. When a PO line is fully invoiced, its associated PO line is closed. If, for some reason, you do not require invoices, use a PO line that does not require a price and funds, such as Technical; see Manually Creating a PO Line.

Invoicing Workflow

The following is a detailed description of the steps within this workflow (with the numbers corresponding to the numbers in the diagram). For the complete list of invoice statuses, see Invoice Statuses.

After creating an invoice using a PO or manually, you can choose to move directly to the Receive New Material page (see Receiving Material).

Imported invoices are associated with the institution. Invoices created using a PO or manually can be assigned to the institution or a specific library, depending on the scope of the user’s role.

The invoice is processed to determine whether there are elements that require special attention based on rules preconfigured by an administrator. This processing is performed automatically by the system.

If there are data issues that require attention, the invoice status is set to In Review and the invoice is sent for review (step 3). For information on this manual activity, see Reviewing Invoices. If there are no data issues and the preconfigured rules determine that the invoice can be processed automatically, the invoice moves to step 4.

If invoice_skip_erp = true on the CustomerParameters Mapping Table page (indicating that the invoice is not to be sent to the ERP; see Configuring Other Settings), the invoice proceeds to the payment stage of the workflow (step 5).

If invoice_skip_erp = false on the CustomerParameters Mapping Table page (see Configuring Other Settings), the invoice is set to Ready to be Paid and proceeds accordingly in the workflow.

If the Prepaid or Internal Copy (that is, the invoice is not exported to the ERP system) payment option was selected during manual invoice creation, the invoice is closed (step 6) when the creator clicks Save and Continue (assuming there are no data issues that require attention).

The review stage in the workflow enables the reviewer to add missing information to the invoice or correct any incorrect information on the invoice. When the reviewer clicks Save and Continue on the Review Invoices page, the invoice returns to step 2 in the workflow, where it is reprocessed to determine whether there are elements that require special attention. If data issues are still present, the invoice returns to review. If all data issues have been resolved, the invoice status is set to In Approval and the invoice proceeds to step 4. Invoices that have been closed or sent to the ERP can be sent back to the review stage, to enable editing of the invoice (see Setting Invoices Back to Review).

The invoice is either automatically approved and sent to the next stage of the workflow (Ready to be Paid), or awaits the appropriate library staff person’s manual approval before continuing with the workflow.

If the approval rules preconfigured by an administrator determine that the invoice can be approved automatically, the invoice moves to step 5.

If the approval rules preconfigured by an administrator determine that manual approval is required, the invoice is sent for manual approval. For information on this manual activity, see Approving Invoices. When the person performing the manual approval clicks Approve on the Invoice Information page (accessed from the Approve Invoices page), the invoice status is set to Ready to be Paid and the approved invoice is ready to be sent to the payment system or ERP. (If the person rejects the invoice, it is returned to the review stage – see step 3).

The invoice reaches the payment stage, in which the invoice awaits payment processing, either through Alma or through the institution’s ERP system. (For information on setting up your external system to receive invoices from Alma and running the job that exports invoices from Alma to this external system, see Financial Systems).